I have only one quibble with this story. I don’t think that even the majority of Tea Partiers are truly ready to cut government as it should be. It’s all well and good to talk about it— until you have to give up your own goodies. Everyone taking federal bennies is going to have to take a hair cut except for the truly neediest.

Many in Washington, D.C., took comfort over the past year in polling data showing that fewer voters consider themselves part of the tea party movement. Only 13 percent claim such a tie today, roughly half its peak in 2010. T

The poll is BS.

I go to TEA partys but my wife doesn't usually go but she is as much {or more} a rabid TEA party member as I am.

The pollsters can keep believing that we don't care any more but wait until they wake up on November 7, 2012 and read their beloved wapo or nyslimes and the lefty suicide rate goes through the roof.

Dead libs will litter the streets, we'll have to form burial brigades and hold grief counseling for distraught lib relatives.

Richard Lugar was part of The Problem(Not The Solution)!It’s past time that Republicans realize that there is NO such thing as”Bi-Partisanship”when dealing with The DemonRats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem is that msm has to try define the movement. I don’t consider myself as a loyal member of any party—I vote my conscience on each issue. I protested with other Tea Party Participants as a MOVEMENT—the msm doesn’t get it at all..

I think is some part that the power doesn’t understand that when they attached “The Tea Party” in an effort to kill it all they did was drive us underground. When they thought they saw the so called membership numbers drop they figured they has destroyed it. They are finding out they were once again wrong.

I wonder if one reason the number of self-identified Tea Party members has diminished over the past year or so is because of the realization that the Tea Party would represent a threat of a third party if it became demonstrably large.

Instead, I think many of those who consider themselves Tea Party material have made the decision to cast their lot with the Republican Party, in the hopes of accomplishing exactly what was accomplished when Lugar was thrown out of office.

Splitting off a huge conservative group into a third party would just ensure that Obama and the Dems remain in power, possibly even returning the House to the Democrats in the process.

Going at it this way, by keeping the Tea Party within the Republican ranks, is a far better way to accomplish the Tea Party goals. In fact, with enough of a rightward shift (and I think it will be a huge shift), Romney could be dragged well to the right of center and remain there throughout his Presidency. After all, he’s proven that he will move to where the voters of the moment are. If the voters are overwhelmingly moving right, so will he.

On another note, regarding Obama’s latest “enemies list,” at some point a few liberal reporters are going to go off the liberal reservation due to stuff like this. And when they do, they’re going to find themselves on a similar list. If that does happen, it’s going to wake up a lot of liberals to the mess they’ve created, at which point it could get interesting. (Obama’s treatment by the comedy shows will be the best place to gauge whether this process is underway, and how fast it’s progressing, should it ever get started.)